COVID-19: How Fla Coastal is impacted and what we are doing to slow the spread

Covid-19 updates for Fla Coastal customers

Summary

We're actively following the latest developments about the Covid-19 outbreak. We want to keep you informed about how it might impact your orders with Fla Coastal, so follow this FAQ for current updates.

As of now, here's the status of our Fla Coastal fulfillment center: 

Operating with some basic capacity

Team members who can work from home are

Only a handful of team members are processing orders

 

The status regarding order fulfillment and stock:

  • Since we’re working at a reduced capacity, order fulfillment will take longer than our previous maximum of 7 business days. 
  • We're partnering with backup facilities to help us manage order volume, and we're routing orders to wherever they can be fulfilled most efficiently. 
  • As of now, we're working with 2 backup facilities in the US and Australia and we're looking for more options. 
  • Currently we have enough stock to fulfill orders, especially for our most popular products. We're communicating with our backup suppliers to keep stock levels in check. 

This is a challenging time for the entire eCommerce industry. To both experienced eCommerce businesses and newcomers: We thank you for being with us while we weather this storm.

April 3, 2020

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order  Wednesday April 1st, 2020 instructing the state of Florida to "take a pause" for 30 days and stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The 30 day state wide stay at home order begins April 3, 2020.

Fla Coastal began preparations on Wednesday April 1st, 2020. 

We are not considered an essential business, however we are still doing everything in our limited capacity to fulfill incoming orders.

 

Positive Cases of COVID-19 in Florida

9248

Confirmed Cases in Florida Residents

337

Cases in Non-Florida Residents

9585

Total Cases Overview

 

March 26, 2020

Since we're working at a reduced capacity, Fla Coastal orders will see fulfillment delays. Our carriers can't guarantee Express and Overnight delivery at the moment, so we'll be disabling these shipping methods.

Warehousing operations are continuing at both facilities in FL & NC. But it's going to take us longer to fulfill orders with warehousing items and to stock extra inventory. We're also disabling same-day fulfillment in both of our warehousing facilities. 

March 25, 2020

Along with the safety of our employees, our top priority is to continue to provide uninterrupted service to our customers. We think that it's especially important during these times to support our team members to work from home any way we can. That's why Fla Coastal's facilities in CA, FL and NC will keep some basic operations open for the time being.

Here's what that means: 

  • Our fulfillment teams are working on a voluntary basis. Everyone who is healthy and willing to work is welcome to. Those who can are already working from home.
  • We will be working at a reduced capacity, so production will likely take longer than usual.  
  • We're taking extra measures to keep our fulfillment teams safe. We're staggering shifts, maintaining a 6-foot distance between each station, setting up partitions at tables in our break rooms, and distributing PPE such as safety masks and gloves. In Charlotte, we set up an on-site wellness clinic with health consultations available 24/7 over the phone.
  • We will continue to follow guidelines from the CDC, WHO, US Department of State, local governments, and health agencies.

We want to keep fulfilling as much as we can at our facilities. We're partnering with backup facilities to help us manage volume. 

  • We will start routing select DTG products to one of our backup facilities and we're exploring other product categories. We will post more updates here as they come. 
  • Production quality and speed may differ from what regularly we offer at Fla Coastal. You might also experience production delays while we adjust to new processes. 

This is a difficult time for everyone and we're working hard to adapt to this new reality. We're committed to keeping our employees safe and giving them the means to provide for themselves and their families. We're also committed to supporting our customers, because they rely on us to keep their orders flowing.

March 24, 2020

On March 24, 2020, Mecklenburg County, NC, announced the Stay-at-Home order for county residents, which impacts our facilities in Charlotte. 

The order will go into effect on Thursday, March 26 at 8:00 a.m. and will likely remain in effect for the next 21 days. Operations in Charlotte will continue as normal Wednesday and Thursday. After that, we'll still be able to run basic minimum operations as long as we comply with the requirements of the Stay-at-Home order. 

We are working on solutions to continue fulfilling your orders, like continuing minimum operations in Charlotte and LA, and partnering with backup fulfillment centers. 

The safety of our employees and the public is our top priority so we are following health guidelines from the CDC and WHO. In Charlotte, we're implementing social distancing measures, distributing PPE equipment, and providing an onsite wellness clinic.

March 20, 2020

On March 19, 2020, the county of LA announced the “Safer at Home” emergency order requiring us to shut down operations in 24 hours. The order is effective until April 19, although the mayor has the right to shorten or extend it. 

Over the next 24 hours, we will be working on winding down LA operations and fulfilling as many orders as we can while complying with public health measures. Moving forward, we'll be routing most orders to our other branches. 

We will not be able to route the following products to other branches. We will be disabling them and we recommend you also disable them from your store:

  • Women's Cropped T-Shirt 
  • Beach Towel
  • Throw Blanket

We may see more out of stock scenarios as our suppliers in California will also be affected. 

March 16, 2020

Based on advice provided by public health experts, we're implementing work from home policies across all of our Fla Coastal locations. Employees who can are now working from home.

 

We're following the situation and are in touch with our shipping carriers. We will post more updates as they come.

March 13, 2020

Starting Wednesday, March 18, we're temporarily cancelling all in person events. The safety of our customers and team members is our priority, so we're following public health guidelines and limiting in-person meetings. 

 

March 9, 2020

We don't currently expect significant stock shortages for most of our product categories. We have identified which materials we source from affected areas and are preparing with extra stock and alternative supplier options where possible.

  • We disabled incoming products from China, as most businesses have stopped or limited their own deliveries from China. 
  • We recommend following the news for any regional shipping changes.  We'll post updates here as we get them.